The red light began to paint a picture in the empty air. It drew a pair of tall black boots. It drew a long, heavy coat made of dark crimson leather. It drew broad shoulders. Finally, it drew a face. A massive, life-sized hologram of a man appeared in the middle of the muddy battlefield. He looked so real that Caster could almost smell the expensive perfume and old blood on his clothes. It was Elias Thorpe. He stood tall in the mud. The left side of his face was completely melted and scarred from the magical fire a hundred years ago. His skin looked like ugly, twisted wax. But his right side was handsome and sharp. His single green eye stared forward. His left eye was a swirling orb of pure, screaming red energy. Elias Thorpe smiled. It was a cold, arrogant, terrifying smile. He was not physically there. He was miles away, standing safely on the balcony of his giant walking machine. But his magical projection looked right at Caster. "Look at you," Elias Thorpe said. His voice ca

"I will not let another child burn for me," Caster whispered into the dark of his own mind. Caster opened his eyes. He reached deep down into his soul. He found the heavy, locked box where he kept the golden seed. He did not just open the box. He shattered it. "You want to see my magic, Elias?!" Caster roared. His voice was no longer the raspy voice of a tired old man. It was the booming, earth-shattering voice of absolute authority. The change was instantaneous and terrifying. Caster’s ordinary gray eyes vanished completely. They were replaced by a solid, blinding, brilliant golden light. It looked like two tiny suns had ignited inside his skull. The heavy, dark gray military coat he wore whipped furiously around his legs, even though there was no wind. The air in the muddy battlefield suddenly became incredibly heavy. It felt like standing at the bottom of a deep ocean. The red fog around them stopped swirling. It froze in pure fear. VZZZZZZ-WOOOOOM! A massive, visible shock

Elias spit onto the wet stone bridge. "Consequence is a myth invented by cowards," Elias sneered. He stood up tall, ignoring the pouring rain. "The universe is just a giant battery, Caster. It is waiting to be drained. The only rule is power. If you have the power to break the boundaries, you become a god. If you are afraid to break them, you stay a slave."Elias reached up and touched the bloody white bandages on his ruined face. "You think this is a punishment?" Elias whispered. A dark, evil, crazy smile spread across the healthy side of his mouth. "This burn is a badge of honor. It proves I touched the absolute limit of magic. It proves I am willing to pay the price.""It proves you are arrogant," Caster said firmly. He was tired of arguing. He loved his friend, but he hated the madness in Elias’s heart. "You are walking into the dark, Elias. If you continue down this path, you will destroy yourself."Elias’s green eye narrowed. The smile vanished completely. "I am not going to d

Elias knelt in the mud. He looked at Caster’s outstretched hand. He looked at the clean, pale skin. He looked at the calm, pitying expression on Caster’s face. Elias did not see kindness. He saw supreme arrogance. He saw a man who thought he was better, smarter, and holier than him. Elias’s body trembled. Not from the cold rain, but from a rage so pure and so hot it could have melted the stone bridge. Elias raised his own hand. SMACK. Elias slapped Caster’s hand violently away. "Do not touch me," Elias hissed. His voice was a venomous snake. Elias slowly pushed himself up from the mud. He swayed slightly on his feet, but he forced his back to straighten. He looked Caster straight in the face. The single green eye shining from the bloody bandages was completely devoid of humanity. It was a black hole of pride and hatred. The wind howled around them, blowing Elias’s dark coat like a pair of broken wings. "You think you won because you follow the rules," Elias whispered. His voi

Sikoa reached to her belt. She pulled out her sharpest, heaviest steel dagger. She raised the dagger high into the air. Sikoa drove the steel blade directly into the center of the wooden table. The blade buried itself deep into the wood. The loud noise shocked everyone. The screaming stopped. The running stopped. Thirty terrified mages turned to look at the muddy, angry woman with the eye-patch. "Nobody is packing any bags!" Sikoa roared. Her rough, harsh voice echoed off the cave walls like a cracking whip. "You cannot give us orders, thief!" an older man with a gray beard snapped. His name was Master Toris. He used to be a very important earth-mage. "We are scholars of the Guilds! You are just a street rat! The world is ending, and we are leaving!"Sikoa pulled her dagger out of the table. She pointed the sharp tip directly at Master Toris’s nose. "The world is ending because cowards like you run away!" Sikoa shouted. She stepped toward the old man. She did not look like a stre